What is the healthiest breakfast?
It would be great if there was one perfect breakfast that worked great for everyone. Trust me, I’d give that recipe away right now! But it doesn’t exist. Different strokes for different folks. We have different needs, different schedules, and different tastes. We are versitile omnivores. I won’t give you a definitive answer, but I will give you some basic guidelines and some specific ideas.
Is cereal a healthy breakfast? 🥣
Here’s a definitive answer I can give you.
No. No, it’s not. Cold cereal that comes in a box is highly processed grains that no longer resemble what they came from with synthetic vitamins sprayed on and stocked on the shelf in an enormous amount of packaging with far more money put into attracting your squirrel brain than in nourishing you. 🐿️
There might be some that are less bad, but none are very good. Most will be lacking in nutrition and will spike your blood sugar even with the high-glycemic milk you add to it.
One of the best things you can do to improve your diet is to just stop eating boxed cereal for breakfast. For real. It’s the first thing I ask my clients to do.
What if I’m not hungry for breakfast?
This comes up a lot with my clients. Sometimes it’s fine to just fast until you get hungrier… say until 10 or 11 am and then break your fast with a hearty early lunch. This actually works great for a lot of people! But read the following 3 scenarios to see if you are falling into some breakfast-skipping pitfalls.
In reality…
I find many clients don’t actually fast. They graze or just drip feed themselves sugar through their beverages (milk or half ‘n half) all morning and maybe a muffin.🍩 This sends their blood sugar on a roller coaster ride and primes them for a day of grazing, low energy, and fat storage.
Another unhelpful scenario is when people wait too long to eat, have a stressful day, and then overcompensate by binge eating in the evening.🍦🍕 When they binge late, not only does it run counter to their circadian rhythms, they binge on less nutritious food so you are over-fed and under-nourished.
This can lead to chronic under-eating and that can lead to low protein intake (muscle loss), low micronutrient intake, and your metabolism slows down.
There is nothing wrong with following your natural body rhythms and not eating when you are not hungry. ⏰ But sometimes your body’s hunger sensations and circadian rhythm are just out of whack and it needs a reset. This takes a little curiosity and experimentation to see what actually works best for your body.
Homemade muesli 🫐🍓
Start with an overnight soak of oats and chia seeds then top with seeds and seasonal fruit. This recipe is a real crowd-pleaser and is super nutrient-dense.💪
Basic Breakfast Guidelines
Keep in mind we all have slightly different needs and what we do will depend on our own state of health, digestion, how much time we have, and what we like to eat. That said, here are my guidelines:
Water 🥤
At least 20g protein 🍗
A teaspoon of healthy fat🥑🧈
Smart carbs with some fiber
Water🥤
Please don’t skip this step! You are dehydrated when you wake up! You spent the whole night running the DETOX cycle and now your body needs a way to get those toxins OUT of your body. Down 8 ounces of water as soon as you get up. Then before you eat your breakfast, drink another 8 ounces. You might also benefit from a pinch or two of salt in that water if you:
Eat a very low carbohydrate diet.
Have low blood pressure
Are fasting
Protein 🍗
20-40g per meal (your daily MINIMUM intake is found by dividing your lean body weight by 2 and that gives you grams of protein per day. So a 150lb lean-ish person would have 75g protein minimum, and up to 150g protein per day.)
Vary your protein sources for an optimal nutrition profile.
Eggs, nuts, seeds, yogurt, sausages, soup, whey protein powder… Just get it and eat it before the carbs. If you can keep your blood sugar relatively even-keel at breakfast time, it will set the tone for your metabolism all day long.
Fat 🍗
Fat will keep you full longer and will help you digest your food better. If you have a lot of carbs with your breakfast, keep the fat on the low-medium end. If you’re having a very low-carb breakfast, don’t be afraid to up the fat to fuel your body.
Smart Carbs 🫐🍓
These include fresh fruit, starchy vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. The amount of carbs you eat will depend on your metabolism and activity level. If you have impaired carbohydrate metabolism (ie diabetes or prediabetes) then cut back on carbs a bit.
Picky Eater Focus
Some kids like things really simple. Think of simple items to piece together something wholesome that will stabilize their blood sugar.
What is a healthy breakfast on the go?🏎️
Sometimes it helps to think out of the box for breakfast. Don’t limit yourself to “breakfasty” foods.
Protein smoothies, nuts, a sandwich, a burrito, quiche, egg bites, and hard-boiled eggs are all quick and portable breakfasts.
Protein Smoothies 🫐🍓🥤
Protein smoothies can be a really convenient way to meet your protein needs and start your day off. I like to recommend a good-quality protein powder with berries. This article gives you some guides on protein powders and a formula for creating the perfect smoothie.
What about waffles and pancakes? 🥞
(Please say yes… please say yes…) 🙏
Make some great whole-grain waffles
There is no sacrificing taste with these. Whole grain waffles make a delish weekend meal. This recipe also works for pancakes! 🥞🥞🥞
I encourage you to experiment with different breakfasts. This is the one meal where a lot of us get very entrenched in our habits. Remember that our tastes are very malleable. Give yourself a chance to get used to something new! Don’t be put off if you don’t love something new the first time. Keep trying it because your tastes WILL change. If you are accustomed to a very sugary breakfast, that can take a while to adjust from. But it’s worth it, I promise.
Here are a few more breakfast ideas from my YouTube channel!
Three different breakfasts: Oatmeal, Scrambled eggs and egg-fried rice.
How does breakfast and blood sugar affect attention span during the day?
I’ve always known… in theory… how dysregulated blood sugar would negatively impact our ability to focus and learn. But over the years, I’ve seen some pretty dramatic improvements in focus, sleep and stress levels when blood sugar is addressed.
Really dial in your blood sugar for fast results
We like to combine a little education with the use of a really clever device called a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). It gives us real-time, 24/7 data on how our food affects our blood sugar, making it easy (and kind of fun) to connect the dots and make simple changes that have a big impact on our health.